music just starts playing automatically on my iPhone

iPhone 13 Pro Max running iOS 17.0.3 - not subscribed to Apple Music.


Frequently, when the phone is linked to some source like home pod mini or CarPlay or a speaker or something, it just spontaneously decides to start playing music l, usually starting alphabetically by the title of the song.


I have searched online and found suggestions like this one https://freeyourmusic.com/blog/stop-apple-music-from-automatically-playing#


which says:


How to disable Autoplay in Apple Music is explained here and applies to iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch:

  1. Select a song in the Music app on your iPhone or iPad.
  2. After clicking on the mini player, tap on "up next"and look for the Autoplay icon (the infinity symbol).
  3. To turn off the Autoplay feature when it is turned on, tap the Autoplay icon.
  4. The Autoplay playlist should instantly disappear if the process is successful, and Apple Music will stop playing music on its own.


but when I try to follow these directions I get stuck at step 3 because I cannot find any autoplay infinity symbol icon that can be turned off.


help! This is really annoying. I hate it when my devices decide to do things without my asking it to.


[Re-Titled by Moderator]

iPhone 13 Pro Max, iOS 17

Posted on Nov 12, 2023 4:24 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jan 14, 2024 11:48 AM

I found it. You pick a song, click on the mini bar that shows the song that is playing, click the icon on the bottom right that has 3 vertical dots with lines to the right. That will bring up a list of what songs are going to play. To the right of “Playing next”, you will see 3 icons: shuffle (crossing arrows), repeat (arrows circling), and the infinity sign.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jan 14, 2024 11:48 AM in response to —AM

I found it. You pick a song, click on the mini bar that shows the song that is playing, click the icon on the bottom right that has 3 vertical dots with lines to the right. That will bring up a list of what songs are going to play. To the right of “Playing next”, you will see 3 icons: shuffle (crossing arrows), repeat (arrows circling), and the infinity sign.

Mar 12, 2024 8:07 PM in response to —AM

I read through this last night and tried to click on the infinity button, and alas, it wasn’t there, just like everyone was noting.

Then I went back in and realized that if I was in the Radio mode, the infinity button wasn’t there. HOWEVER, as long as I picked a song from my library, and then followed the instructions to get to the Playing Next section…there it was. Clicked it, so far 24 hours later, so good.

Apr 2, 2024 4:18 PM in response to —AM

So for me none of those other settings in my phone worked. I have iPhone 13. That infinity symbol thing in Apple Music was NOT THE ANSWER for all the folk saying they didn’t have it. What the problem was for me was a setting in my stereo system. I clicked the home button in car then went to the main settings in my car. In my car it was called “usb auto launch.” I moved the toggle to off and now when I plug my phone in it doesn’t start blasting music. Hope this is helpful.

Apr 2, 2024 4:32 PM in response to Floofaroo88

Floofaroo88 wrote:

So for me none of those other settings in my phone worked. I have iPhone 13. That infinity symbol thing in Apple Music was NOT THE ANSWER for all the folk saying they didn’t have it. What the problem was for me was a setting in my stereo system. I clicked the home button in car then went to the main settings in my car. In my car it was called “usb auto launch.” I moved the toggle to off and now when I plug my phone in it doesn’t start blasting music. Hope this is helpful.

Thanks for providing your solution. Some users refuse to understand that the car stereo unit needs to have this setting to stop the audio from playing automatically. Not all vehicles have it, but is more common in newer vehicles. While you found the setting for a USB connection, the same is true for Bluetooth as well. Without this setting, the play command is sent to the iPhone from the radio when it is connected, otherwise you would never hear any music when you change the audio source on the car radio to the iPhone.

Mar 28, 2024 3:14 PM in response to FredCannigan

Today, there is no infinity symbol. Since most recent upgrade Apple Music starts up every time. In the car this is the worst, because I do not want music while I am driving. I have downloaded John Cale’s 4’33” which is 4 minutes 33 seconds of silence. It gives me time to close the app with no music. I have it on auto repeat, so it is the only song that comes up. Next step will be to delete Apple Music.

Mar 22, 2024 9:51 AM in response to Aliababwa1234

Aliababwa1234 wrote:

Jim your defenses of Apple are for naught. Apple Music is programmed to open automatically and there is no way to stop it short of deleting it. After the better part of a decade of this super annoying non-addressable issue by the user, I am just fine with my decision to determine that my Apple Music purchases are a loss and delete it. I do not have these issues anymore and use several apps for music when I want them, which is what everyone that originally landed on this page was looking for with Apple Music. The answer is to delete Apple Music

If you do not have purchased music, or a library of songs, or a subscription to Apple Music, then I would suggest to anyone to delete it as the app will serve no purpose for you in the first place. For those that have built their library of songs and benefit from the Apple Music subscription, then the information has been provided for them. The beauty of it is that everyone is free to use any option that they want. There are many options available, each with their own benefits and problems that can be found with any simple internet search.

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

music just starts playing automatically on my iPhone

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